Railroad crossing structure



3 J5! I Wm W March 25, 1958 c. H. RENNELS 2,828,080

RAILROAD CROSSING STRUCTURE 4 Filed May 10, 1954 3 :F'"'2 10H" TIITFWUUTiWIUUGflUPfFIF-l Li L] .L.! (L I/ L1 A FIGZM ,3 2, 22 5 INVENTOR, I CHARLES H. RENNELS A/ v ATTQR EY United St Patent;

RAILROAD CROSSINGSTRUCTURE Charles H. Rennels, Woodworth, Ohio Application .May 10, 1954; Serial No. 428,496

6 Claims. (Cl. 238-8) This invention relates to'a railroad crossingstructure and more particularly to a-resilient unit of a size and ing the padofresilient material capable of bridging the area between the ties of'a railroad track and supporting crossing traffic thereover.

A stillfurther object of the invention is the provision of a railroad crossing, structure which may be readily installed. on spacing; members on the ties of'the railroad track so as to completely cover the ties between the rails.

of the railroadtrack.

A still further'object of the invention isthe provision of' a railroad crossing structure comprising a reinforced resilient pad having means by which the pad may be anchoredvto the.tie structureof the pad, if desired.

The railroadcrossing structure disclosed herein comprises an improvement'over the railroad crossing construction: shown in my. coepending application for. patent Serial No. 376,011,.filecLAugust 2'4; 1953. The railroad crossing construction..disc1osed. inmy earlier application for patent relatedmprimarily. to a relatively thick. slab of resilient materiaLhaving a reinforcingmembermidway between its upper. and. lower. surfaces.

Thepresent disclosure. relates to a. more practical and commercially feasiblesform of the invention in that. the improved structuredisclosedherein is lighter in weight, easier to install and capable. of more .economicallmanw facture. than the-earlier disclosed construction.

Additionally,. the. problem of. anchoring the: structure to the supporting. ties of the. railroad. track and. more accurately to spacing; members positioned thereon, has been satisfactorily settled in that any conventional type of spike, screw'or-bolt may 'be employed'with thepresently disclosed structure:

As set forth in the earlier application, the railroad crossing structure disclosed therein and the improvement thereof disclosed herein comprises a solution to the problem of establishing a satisfactory grade crossing structure on railroads.

The several constructions of the prior art have the common failing in that they adversely efiect the proper ballasting of the railroadtrack and constitute hazards for the operating equipment due to their lack of conformation with the track structure and/or their ability to ride therewith and adjust themselves to the flexing motions of the track. Such tracks as known in the prior art have, therefore, commonly failed and resulted in rough or broken and dangerous crossings both to the operating thereto. by suitablemeans, not shown.

2. equipment of the railroad and to the vehicles crossing the railroadtrack.

The. present improvement in such structures incorporates the several advantages of the crossing construction di'slosedin my earlier application and at the same time incorporates other features rendering the structure commercially feasible andeasy to install and remove, as desired.

With the foregoing-andother objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of'parts and inthe details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which. do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the. invention.

The invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figurel is a topplan view of a railroad track showing the, crossing structure in position.

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on line 22 of which comprisesa plurality of ties 101 and a pair of spaced rail's.1111i, The, ties 10 in the area ofthe crossing are provided with spacing members 12 which are positioned longitudinally on each of the ties and secured A plurality of resilient pads, generally indicated by the numeral 13, are positioned on the spacing members 12, each of the pads 13 beingof a lengthextending from rail to railand having longitudinally extending flanges i l-14 on their outermostends. The flanges 14 are preferably tapered outwardly, and terminate in abutting relation to the rails 11".

The main body. of the resilient pad 13 is positioned. inwardly in spaced relation tothe rails 11 by. the flanges 14, the space between the main body of the pad 13and1 The-'cornbined height of the resilient pad "13 and thespacing member 12 is substantially equal to the total height of the rails 11. It will occur to those skilled in the art that the railroad crossing structure is thus capable of use with any of the various sized rails in use by the several railroads as the thickness of the spacing members 12 may be varied to match the over-all height of the rail when in the assembly.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that a plurality of the pads 13 positioned on the spacing members 12 transversely of the railroad track and between the rails 11-11 and in edge to edge relation will form a suitable crossing structure'and will be self-retaining with respect to the rails.

If desired, the pads 13 can be anchored to the track structure by positioning spikes, screws or other fasteners Patented Mar. 25, 1958.

through openings'1717 provided and disclosed in detail in Figures 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings. thereto it will be seen that the openings 17 extend through the resilient portion of the pads13 and through themetal.

back 15'and that'afiangedgromniet'lS having a'resilie'ri't slee /e19 therein is positioned in the opening 17 in the metal back so that a fastening member s'uch'as a spike 20 positioned through the opening 17 and into the "spacing member 12 will resilently hold the pad 13 in relation thereto. Y

The upper surface of the resilient pad 13 is preferably formed with a combination drainage and traction tread pattern comprising a plurality of raised areas 21' defined by a plurality of channels 22, of the drawings.

It will be observed that the end portions of the pad 13 comprise transversely extending solid bar sections 23 providing shoulders on the ends of the resilient pad 13 adjacent the flangeways formed by the longitudinal flanges 14, as heretofore described.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that similar resilient pad structures may be positioned on the outer ends of the ties it) beyond the rails 11 to complete the crossing, and in the event of double tracks such resilient pads may be positioned between the outer rails of the respective double tracks.

In Figure 2 of the drawings a secondary spacing member 12A is shown on the ends of the 'tie 10 and a secondary resilent pad 13A positioned thereon.

' It will occur to those skilled in the artthat the railroad crossing structure disclosed herein and specifically the resilient pad 13 with its reinforcing metal back 15 is capable of other uses and specifically bridge floors and industrial floors where suitable supporting base structures are supplied. Bridge floors now using metal grids which ice up in cold weather may be effectively-'re-surfaced with the resilient pad to provide a safe non-skid, non-icing wearing surface.

Industrial hand trucks and trailers used in industrial plants cut up conventional floors and the installation of the resilient pad with steel reinforcing back, as shown herein, eliminates such further floor destruction and at the same time cushions the load and reduces damaging otherwise caused in transit to the equipment and the material transported.

In such installations on bridge floors and for industrial flooring, the longitudinally extending edge flanges 14-44 are eliminated and the pads positioned in adjacent sideby-side relation.

It will thus be seen that the structure disclosed herein can be used for forming the complete railroad crossing whether a single track, double track or multiple track crossing is involved, and that the resulting crossing will possess the desirable characteristics of light weight, easy installation and removal for trackinspection and repair and at the same time be resiliently yieldable so as to move with the railraod track without effecting the smooth rail top level crossing provided.

It will thus be seen that the railroad crossing structure disclosed herein meets the several objects of the invention.

By referring" as best shown in Fig. 4

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: 1. A railroad crossing pad comprising a thick section of rubber-like resilient material having longitudinally extending flanges on the opposite side edges thereof, a metal plate embedded in said pad, the opposite side edges of said metal plate being spaced inwardly of said pad with respect to said flanges, said metal plate having a plurality of corrugations extending transversely of said ill pad and parallel with said flanges and acting to render said pad semi-rigid in one direction and flexible in another direction. 1 .1.

2. The railroad crossing pad set forth inclaim l and wherein the resilient material and metal plate have a plurality of spaced openings formedtherein and wherein grommets having resilient tubular liners are positioned in said openings to define passageways through which fasteners may be positioned.

3. The railroad crossing pad setforth in claim 1 and wherein the metal plate embedded therein is positioned adjacent the bottomthereof.

4. The railroad crossing pad set forth in claim 1 and wherein said corrugations in said metal plate have their upper and lower surfaces flattened transversely'so as to define a plurality of spaced parallel alternate oppositely disposed channels therein.

5. The railroad crossing pad set forth in claim 1 and wherein the section of rubber-like resilient material is vulcanized to said metal plate.

6. A railroad crossing pad comprising metal plate having its longitudinally extending opposite side edges doubled inwardly, a section of rubber vulcanized to the upper surface of said corrugated metal plate, said section of rubber having a bottom surface shaped to match said upper surfaceof said metal plate and a fiat upper surface, a secondary section of rubber vulcanized to the lower surface of said corrugated metal plate, longitudinally extending flanges on the opposite side edges of said sections of rubber, said opposite side edges of said section of rubber and said flanges extending beyond said side edges of said metal plate. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 862,898 Forsyth Aug. 13, 1907 1,548,057 Mulvihill Aug. 4, 1925 1,755,698 Lish Apr. 22, 1930 1,932,895 Humphries Oct. 31, 1933 1,975,391 Evenson Oct. 2,1934 1,986,999 Burgess Jan. 8, 1935 2,076,338 Greely Apr. 6, 1937 2,225,496 Gethin -1 Dec. 17, 1940 2,317,963 Bashore Apr. 27, 1943 2,337,525 Peik Dec. 21, 1943 2,424,916 Stedman July 29, 1947 2,599,230 Carroll .1 June 3, 1952 2,737,693 Robbins Mar. 13, 1956;

FOREIGN PATENTS 563,149 France Sept. 20, 1923 927,833 France Apr. 27, 1945 a corrugated 

